Novartis Venture Fund. the $750m corporate venturing division of pharmaceutical firm Novartis, has led a $7m Series A round for U.S-based startup Neurovance, a spin off of Euthymics Bioscience.
Neurovance is developing a new drug, EB-1020, for adult attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Venture Investors, H&Q Healthcare Investors and H&Q Life Sciences Investors, GBS Venture Partners, State of Wisconsin Investment Board and Timothy Barberich also participated in the A round. The round follows a $478,000 round closed earlier this year by the company
Anthony McKinney, chief executive of Neurovance, said: “Given the favorable initial results showing good tolerability in healthy subjects and the expected pharmacodynamic profile associated with the broad pharmacology of EB-1020, we are now conducting work leading to our first patient trial, a Phase IIa pilot study in adult ADHD planned for next year, several members of our management group were closely involved in the development of Strattera, the first nonstimulant for ADHD, and we are well positioned to build from that experience.”